The present invention relates to a digital camera capable of capturing a desired image for a photographer upon shooting a scene of a subject including a person or an animal.
Conventionally, a digital camera is provided with a display unit for displaying an image of a photographed subject thereon. A liquid crystal display panel or the like is used for the display unit. The display unit has a small display area and a low resolution. Therefore, when a person, an animal, or the like is photographed together with scenery, the person, the animal, or the like is displayed in a small dimension, which causes hard to recognize various expressions of the person, the animal, or the like on their faces or countenances.
Therefore, conventionally, it has been proposed to apply processing such as a face portion detecting to a preview image, which is displayed on the display unit, before obtaining a final captured image (JP 2001-309225 A, JP 2003-107335 A, and JP 2003-107555 A).
In a camera disclosed in JP 2001-309225 A, a face portion detecting algorithm is executed for a framing image, which is obtained by an image capturing unit, to detect all face portions in the framing image. Then, various algorithms are executed for the framing image to obtain a final captured image. A red-eye detection algorithm is executed for this final captured image. If a red-eye effect is present in this final captured image, warning is displayed on a display device by the red-eye detection algorithm. In the case where the conventional camera is a digital camera, after receiving this red-eye warning, a photographer can execute an automatic red-eye effect correction algorithm in order to remove an unpleasant red highlight portion in the eye of the object. Consequently, an image in which the red-eye effect is corrected can be obtained.
In addition, JP 2003-107335 A discloses a camera (image pickup apparatus) that, when a person is photographed, detects a face portion of the person out of image data and performs automatic focus control with at least a part of the detected person as a target of a range finder. According to this camera of JP 2003-107335 A, regardless of a position of the person in a image, the face portion of the person can be in focus and photographed without changing a image composition from the time of automatic focus operation to the time of shooting the scene.
Moreover, JP 2003-107555 A discloses a camera (image pickup apparatus) provided with an automatic exposure function that is capable of shooting a scene of a person in proper exposure regardless of the position of the person. According to this camera of JP 2003-107555 A, a face portion of the person is detected from image data before shooting the scene, the detected face portion of the person is subjected to photometry, an amount of exposure is calculated based on a result of this photometry, and exposure control is performed based on this amount of exposure.
In the cameras of JP 2001-309225 A, JP 2003-107335 A, and JP 2003-107555 A, red-eye effect, focus, an amount of exposure can be corrected appropriately. However, when a scene including a background is shot, it is difficult to recognize a specified portion of a subject, for instance, the face or countenance of the person or animal to be photographed, and there arises a problem in that a photographer cannot always capture a desired image with a desired expression of a person, an animal, or the like therein.